Taylor Rene Parker desperately wanted another baby.
And she was willing to kill to get what she wanted.
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On Monday, a Texas jury convicted Parker, 29, of capital murder in the gruesome October 2020 slaying of Reagan Michelle Simmons-Hancock, 21, and the kidnapping of her baby daughter who was cut from her womb but later died.
Parker’s three-week trial was awash in shock, gore and tears. It took the jury just one hour of deliberation to reach their verdict.
Now, a jury will decide whether Parker deserves the death penalty and a one-way ticket to oblivion.
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The court heard that Parker battered Simmons-Hancock in the head before “cutting her abdomen, hip to hip”. The victim was 34-weeks pregnant at the time and was also stabbed more than 100 times.
Simmons-Hancock died in front of her three-year-old daughter.
Parker already had two children but had undergone a hysterectomy and could no longer conceive. But when her new boyfriend expressed a desire for children, she faked a pregnancy.
And the defence hung their hats on the argument that because the baby had not been born, there was no kidnapping and therefore, it wasn’t a death penalty case.
Prosecutors said the baby had a heartbeat when it was born — and pointed to Parker’s sinister premeditation.
“We have methodically laid out what she (Parker) did, why she did it, all the moving parts, and all the collateral damage. The best evidence the state of Texas has that baby was born alive is that Taylor Parker said it wasn’t,” prosecutor Kelley Crisp told the jury.
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In addition, the prosecution outlined Parker’s machinations to fake the pregnancy that lasted an astounding 10 months.
The convicted killer was terrified that if she couldn’t produce a baby, her boyfriend, Wade Griffin would dump her. She faked ultrasounds and even held a gender reveal party along with frequent social media posts about her pregnancy.
Asst. District Attorney Lauren Richards told the court: “In the past two weeks, the evidence has never been more clear. She’s a liar, a manipulator, and now she’s gonna be held accountable for it. The pain Reagan must have felt when Taylor started cutting her abdomen, hip to hip … indescribable.”
Richards added: “When Taylor had the baby and Reagan was still alive, that’s when Taylor started slashing and cutting. She can’t leave her alive. It was no quick death. She just kept cutting her. I guess Reagan would not die fast enough for Taylor to get out of there and get on with her plans.”
Afterward, Parker fled the scene with the baby in her lap and put the placenta in her pants to make it appear she had just given birth.
But the baby died and Parker was arrested not long after.
The punishment phase has been scheduled to begin on Oct. 12. Prosecutors want the death penalty but if that gambit fails, Parker will still spend the rest of her life in prison.
— WITH WIRE SERVICES
bhunter@postmedia.com
@HunterTOSun